Bluegrass Times

There were 14 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Kentucky during the week ending December 11, a 50 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending December 11, there were 817 deaths in the state. 19.7 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.2 percent were from cancer and 26.6 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 7.1 percent of deaths were from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Studies show doctors and medical examiners may underreport Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related conditions as the underlying cause of death on death certificates, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Once infected, older adults with dementia are likely to develop a more severe and dangerous illness. The diseases which make an older adult more vulnerable to COVID-19 are age-associated chronic conditions, according to the Bright Focus Foundation.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Heart disease	161	191
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	149	189
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	111	129
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	106	112
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	51	42
Cerebrovascular diseases	35	46
Diabetes mellitus	19	26
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	14	16
Alzheimer's disease	14	28
Influenza and pneumonia	13	15

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-12-11	Number of Deaths 2021-12-04
Alzheimer disease and dementia	58	84